The Gladiator's Challenge
by ForgottenBard
Summary: When the Celtic blond Jou is taken slave as the Roman empire stretches over his land, how will he survive? And will the dangerous words of his 'Master' corrupt him? (Will be yaoi)
1. Dog Eat Dog

"You! Boy! You're up!"  
  
And I was tossed into the circular dirt ring with no more warning than that. Captured not three days ago, I was now to be tested in front of an audience. If I were fast, I might be bought by a messenger-service to run all over Rome day in and day out. Endure very long, and I'd be set in the fields of richer farmers to pick vegetables for the rest of my life. Or, fight well and show any kind of skill with a weapon, and I'd end up in gladiator training, to learn something of fighting and die young in the ring. Ah, the freedom permitted to a slave. _Right_. Well, I'm not fast, nor would the pretense of it get me anything but beaten day in and day out for taking too long delivering some message or another. Endurance...well enough, but I don't think back-breaking labor suits the son of a former Celtic Chieftain. Gladiator it is, or something along the lines- perhaps I might get very lucky and a nobles' wife would choose to have a tall, fair-haired foreign-boy serve her until he became old and ugly. Really, miracles happen. And the real Messiah walks the earth. I'm sure.  
  
And so I fought. Four or five tall, lean mastiffs wearing weak muzzles were my 'opponents', and I planned on making sure few of the dogs actually walked out of this ring, while I did. As soon as the gate was lifted they charged, muffled yelps and growls issuing from their slavering jaws behind the leather bindings as they tripped over and around each other to get at prey in front of them. It began, and was ended before they even got within ten paces of me- the wildcats of the forests of Welsh-land were neither muzzled nor claw less- and I'd fought more than one of them, even if it was winter when they were half starved, but desperate for the lifeblood in my own veins.  
  
The first one to reach me was treated to a firm kick straight up across the jaw and by the sound made, even should it manage to work the leather bindings off it would not be able to make its teeth much good. It stumbled into the next to my extreme luck, and the gangly dog landed at my feet like a good little pet- where I did not wait for it to get up to land my feet on its ribs -using it to the double purpose of breaking the ribs, as well as vaulting myself over the last three dogs to the other side of the small circle. So it's five, and one of them it probably permanently out of the hunt. I landed in a crouch, similar to the very wildcats I'd been against in the past, and watched as the four dogs milled for a moment. They tripped over one another, and pawed at the muzzles, and generally proved that Roman dogs did not have half the brains a good Celt wolfhound did. After a moment or two, two of the three uninjured began to circle in two different directions as if to corner me...in a round ring. Heheh. Good enough I still have something to laugh at, even if it is idiocy.  
  
But the moment of humor ended abruptly when a bucket of blood spilled down upon me from above, and the last two mobile dogs joined the others in a raucous stalking, barking madly and ripping at the muzzles. Apparently, these dogs weren't normally that skinny...possibly a misjudgment there. Dammit, I needed a good weapon! Laughingly one of the watchers up above threw a tiny eating dagger into the ring, nearly hitting me. _Wow, that was timing._ I tensed, afraid to move too quickly, but slowly- ever slowly- reached for the tiny knife. Every little thing in my favor counted. Just as my fingers were to close upon the hilt, the overseer in the stands whistled and the dogs pounced. I rolled under them away from the wall, but luckily I managed to get the knife...earning a small cut along my palm, but at least I now knew the knife was sharp. Without time for thought, the dogs followed and I darted to the right. One, a heavy mottled brown one landed on me before I could right myself, and I drove the knife into its side, feeling the tiny blade nick off a bone, and puncture something. Shoving the creature away in an effort to stand before the next dog would reach me; the knife was jerked out of my hands and into the spattered dust as the animal staggered and the whistling of the wound allowed me to know that it was a lung puncturing wound. Good. Two more knocked me back to the ground, too far from the knife to reach it. Something tore into my shoulder, and too late I noted one of the mastiffs had managed to break away most of its muzzle...and now tasted my blood. I know I cried out, but I also know that I heaved them both away with much more strength than I believed I possessed. I scrambled over to the weapon, my shaking hand scrabbling at the dust and closing upon the blade only inches away from the quickly dying brown dog. I could taste, I could feel the adrenaline roaring in my ears, feel slimy, sticky hot drip down my arm and chest and face...  
  
And in the tiers above a gladiator-training school owner raised his voice to offer a sum of silver for the boy in the ring bellows' ownership, and after a few moments of auction-like offers were made and the dogs were called back from the fighting, covered human form.  
  
In the arena below, Jou dropped to his knees and fought against passing out. He would live to see another day and he swore to himself, even as the cool darkness of unconsciousness set it, he would return to his people. As long as it took, and as many times the wheel would turn, he would return to the wildelands of his forefathers.


	2. Sting of Willow

I woke up to the rumbling and jouncing associated with a cart or wagon, and opened my eyes to a cloudy, drizzling sky. I could feel at least two people, maybe three near where I had apparently been flopped against the side of the cart. I moved a bit, feeling the stiffness related to injuries and tried to figure out what was hurt, and how well it had been bandaged. It surprised me, my wounds _had _been attended to...so my new master must at least know basic health or have a slave that did.

"Hey, have you awoken?" Someone spoke in a Celtic dialect. I froze for a moment, then slowly sat up, trying to avoid making my torn up shoulder hurt any more than it already did. Sitting in front of me was a brunette with hair that all stuck up in one direction, reminding me of a blade or stag's horn. "When they tossed you in they said you were from Celtica too. You understand me, Son of the Wolf Chief?"

"Ah, I know your speech. Of what province are you?"

"Of northern Britannica, My family once went to a festival that yours hosted, though we never formally met, man." The brunette looked rather overjoyed to have found another who at least spoke his language. He began to chatter on about the festival, and a girl he'd met at the festival that drew Jou's attention.

"You met a girl named Serenity? One with long reddish-hair, green eyes, and the apprentice to the potion healer?"

"Yeah, I never saw her eyes, but that's her! How do you know her?"

"That's my younger half-sibling! Her mother wanted to have her learn from the master she learned from, so they went away! I didn't know they'd gone to that festival!" In his surprise and happiness about hearing from his sister, he forgot to speak quietly, and the sudden stinging of a green willow twig across his and the other man's back reminded him.

"No talking back there, you'll get to socialize and make friends in the training ring. Heh." The young man driving the cart looked to be a normally cheerful one, though right now his face was contorted into an annoyed sneer. "I'm sure your plotting back there will come to nothing anyways."

Behind the cart, a trailing servant-guard in armor spoke up. "Master Mokuba, if they have so much energy to talk, mayhap they should walk."

The cart lurched to a halt, and the blue robed Roman boy stood from his seat. "Kemo, come here."

Eyes wide in the realization that he'd been a bit to relaxed around his younger master, Kemo slunk forward, kneeling below the long haired boy. "Yes, Master?"

"Kemo, who gives orders around here?"

"You do, sir."

"Good. And what does that mean you do?"

"Follow those orders, sir."

"Go-o-od. Now, resume your place, and don't expect dinner tonight."

"Yes, Master Mokuba!" And the guard hustled back to the small column of guards following the cart the Roman boy rode in, while said boy settled back in his seat, and cracked the whip over the mules heads.

Still stinging from the crack from the willow lash, Jou murmured a "sorry" to the brunette and settled back down on the floor of the cart- he'd might as well sleep while he could...


	3. Painful Mutturs and Touches

Waking up mid-air and landing hard on a stone bench isn't fun. I think I just figured that one out. I guess I'd slept the rest of the ride here, to where ever we are, and they'd found out just how hard it is to wake a sleeping Jou. Guess I'm sorta lucky they didn't just start beating me until I woke up. That would have been painful.

"Hey, you in the cell next to me! You ain't gonna last long. Pathetic, what was Master Mokuba thinking buying a gladiator slave that skinny?"

"Hush up, Keith. You're just angry he wasn't made a body slave."

Voices on either side of my cell argued back and forth, and I was really tempted to join in one mans ridicule of the man Keith who had just insulted me, but I'd already learned some interesting facts-

"You know Master Kaiba ain't gonna like it either! You don't have any room to talk, Little Yugi."

"I've bested you twice now, Keith. Maybe you should figure out that size is nothing, compared to skill...speed...accuracy...you know, all those things you have little problems with."

"You little ba-"

"Silence!" This new voice was quiet and controlled...for a moment I figured that it was another gladiator, but then a tall man wearing dark blue strode down the hall. The short boy who'd bought me followed in his wake.

"Here he is, Brother. He looks kind of weak, but he managed to beat a pack of hungry mastiffs. I managed to buy him before they landed any injuries more serious than a nasty bite on his shoulder."

The taller brother stepped into the bit of light from the torches outside our cells, and glared in at me. I crossed my arms, ignoring the burning pain it caused my shoulder, and matched him glare for glare.

"He looks like he _is _one of the pathetic dogs, Mokuba. Surely you don't expect me to believe he's of any real worth."

"He is, big brother, I give my oath! The trader told me he was captured from the wildelands in Britannia, where his little tribes have a pocket resistance against the Roman Conversion."

I know I showed pleasure on my face, and didn't realize until too late what a mistake that was. The taller man, whom had perfectly groomed brown hair and narrow blue eyes, smirked. "You have pride in your barbaric little friends, mutt? Don't you realize that we've won every battle against them for years now? They don't stand a chance, and soon they'll join you in slavery or death."

Infuriated, I leapt towards the bars, intent on getting a hold of the aristocrat in front of me. Of course, I had just gotten my hands through the bars before one of them was bent backwards, nearly breaking it. "Idiot little cur, don't try my patience." Sneering, the Roman stepped back and released my hand, wiping at the side of his robe like he'd touched something disgusting.

In pain and humiliation, I cradled my hand against my chest, and muttered a few choice names for the man in Gaelic. We'd been winning, his rich rear just wasn't informed. Everyone one knew the commanders far away would tell of great victories even after a major defeat. I knew, for sure that the 'Master' was lying, trying to break my spirit. I did.

Alright, a short note here, even though I don't like them or reviewer responces...

I've never read the book a reviewer claimed this was almost verbatim from, but if someone wants to show me four or five instances that really are that close to one another, I'll remove the story or post a warning at the beginning. As for the p.o.v for the story, I'm hoping for mostly Jou's, and a bit of third person in places that Jou wouldn't see or hear. Maybe once in a while a bit of someone else's view, but probably never Kaiba himself.

Thank too all of you who gave me compliments or suggestions, and please keep reading!


	4. A New Cast

The rest of that night stretched on, and I thought I'd loose my mind at the silence. Man, how did the other guys do it?! I came from a land where no one was alone for very long at all. Modesty was not an issue among my people, the 'barbarians' who defeated their enemies by using the shock they created by fighting nearly in the nude. Here, no one spoke at all, or when they did, it was long speeches that went on at nauseating lengths, saying the same things over and over. Clothing was a matter of importance, to these people, a thing that could speak volumes about rank and wealth, importance, family and any number of things more.

Sometime just after dark, a girl with shoulder length brown hair walked slowly down the aisle dispensing bowls of some sort of soup. With a cheery smile she greeted each of the other men, even those who heckled her about 'other duties'. She passed Keith's cell without glancing in, let alone the greeting or conversation she gave the others.

Reaching my cell, she handed the bowl and a small pot of something through the bars. "Hello! You'd be the new one, right? The jar is a salve our overseer makes for injuries once they've been tended to the first time. It's your responsibility to take care of yourself or things'll get a sight messy. But on with lighter things, I'm Tea', and you are Jou? Well met! I hope we can be great friends."

"I-uh, yeah. Thanks, I guess." I guess I was overwhelmed. The girl was a slave, and by the sounds of things, not a high ranking one. How could she possibly be so cheery?!

Nodding, she moved on. "Hello Yugi! How did your afternoon training go? You didn't have to fight any friends, did you?" The person next to me gave a muffled response, and she moved on after a couple more questions. "Tristan, you didn't get sold! I'm so glad! I'll try to come down later." The voice that responded sounded like the voice from the ride earlier, and I made it a point to remember the name and location of the other Celts' cell.

Sometime later, after the cells had become quiet and most of the slaves had fallen asleep, Jou drifted off slowly, luckily never waking up to find out if Tea' had gotten the chance to come down and 'visit' Tristan.

Ok, I know this one's really short, but any thing added to it would be out of place.

Thanks for all of your positive reviews, I really appreciate them. I would like the anonymous reviewer who told me this was almost just like a book hay had read to please review again and tell me if it'still going along those lines? Luckily my storyline is fairly flexible, since I don't want to infringe on any copyrights. Thanks again to everyone,

FB


	5. Ludi? Ianista?

Before the sun was up, I was awake and pacing my cell energetically. Used to getting up and hunting, building, even just walking around the village, I could feel the energy of habit. As it got brighter and brighter out, more and more people stirred around me, and eventually a man with long black hair stalked down the aisle and stopped in front of my cell. "Newbie. You'll begin your training today." And with that he waved for a guard to open the cell gate.

I waited in the center of my cell, worried. What would training be like? The other man turned and waved for me to follow, and I did, figuring something along the lines that training would be less painful that punishment. When we climbed the stairs out of the Gladiator's cells and stepped into the open air first floor of the school, I knew it was worth getting the fresh air, even if back was broken. When the raven-haired man began to speak, I realized training wasn't going to be as bad as I'd thought.

"This is the Kaiba Ludi, the Kaiba Gladiatorial School. Your Ianista is Master Kaiba. This means you fight for Master Kaiba, Master Kaiba and the beneficiaries pay you for a professional fight, and that if you live long enough to earn your freedom, he will likely employ you. I'm going to be your trainer until you are my equal, and you may call me Devlin. Any questions yet?"

"Live long enough to earn my freedom?" I'd picked up on that one as soon as it left 'Devlin's' mouth, and I'd been wondering about it for the rest of the time he spoke. With an almost dangerous amount of hope, I waited impatiently for the other's response.

"Your freedom can be won in a minimum of three years, if you live that long and fight well enough to earn Ianista Kaiba money, yes. If you live and fight victoriously for five years, the Emperor himself will free you and employ you. For example, a boy named Yugi is a master strategist, and a gladiator here. Emperor Yami has expressed an interest, and Yugi will likely be freed after his next major fight, if he wins again."

I nodded, storing that information away. Survive long enough, gain favor and be freed. It sounded easy enough. After all, fighting was common for me. Unless I was pitted against an absolutely impossible number of opponents, I should be able to handle it.

Devlin continued to tell me about the school, and I was surprised at the fact that the gladiators were actually treated better than normal non-citizens. We'd only fight three or four times a year, were fed three times a day no matter what, and were allowed to have the riches and prizes we won in victorious fights. Devlin went on to talk about the types of weapons and armor we would get to use, but none of them caught my eye. Maybe I could convince them to let me use something I've fought with before.

When he got quiet, I realized that we stood on a small balcony that overlooked the training grounds. Casting a curious look at him and down at the grounds, I noticed a few pairing off and beginning to fight. "Masters Kaiba don't buy many new slaves, and they've never had a real failure. You obviously impressed Mister Mokuba, even if Master Kaiba don't think the same. You fought a pack of bloodhounds, barehanded?"

"I had an eating knife."

"Sir. Always say sir to a superior such as myself."

I made a face, and wondered what punishment I'd get if I broke his arrogant nose.

"Yes, sir."

Sorry it took so long to update, it'll take longer and longer as I get into the plot. I hope to have the next chapter to you next Friday. Since I type these in study hall, it's generally going to take that long. And yes, I know my chapters are short. If I didn't do that, I'd take two weeks, and they'd be bad quality since I have ADD and tend to get distracted easily.

FB


	6. The Animal Fighter

After observing the training and scarfing down a quick breakfast, Devlin set me on a wrapped post with a cruddy sword. "Show me something of what you know." He'd said, and I frowned at the ridiculously short Roman sword. With the graciousness of a noble, I managed to keep from tossing the thing down and spitting on it. "Go on." He'd prompted, crossing to stand a few feet away from the post. He was obviously unaware of anything about real fighting, or maybe he thought I was so incompetent that he need not worry about me coming near the post. Or him…by accident, of course.

It only took a tiny leap before I was arching the sword away from me in a dangerous, but showy move that was a hand-span short of right across Devlin's superior smirk. The pot metal blade crashed into the pole and bounced off, crumpling slightly, and I ducked and spun about, bringing the sword up under handed to slice the padding and a sliver of the wood off of the left side. A quick reversal of the blade lopped the top of the practice pole off jaggedly, and I tossed the twisted, crumpled bit of metal that had been a sword to the ground with a sneer. Had that practice pole been a man, he would have been quartered and beheaded before he'd even known I'd moved.

Devlin stood a moment, appearing to think before nodding. "Not as terrible as I had feared, but that first move left you defenseless- both wide open and in mid-air."

I nodded. "I know that. It's a showy move from a sword dance. You said to show you something of what I know, and I did."

The dark haired trainer growled a bit, and I made it a point to only grin for the faintest of moments. He stalked away, stomping like a child, and I wondered if I was to follow, or wait here.

Minutes later he returned with an array of weapons and armor, a few servants helping to carry it all out. "You're going to start out as a Bestianii, an animal fighter. You won't get the same fame as one, but you're a little more likely to live, and when Master Kaiba is sure that you can hold your own, you'll move on to the real fights." He and the servants plopped the various metals, leathers and furs down, and the servants hurried back to their tasks. "Bestianii fight wearing the pelt of an animal they would be found fighting your opponent in Nature. We'll try various types and pieces of armor until we have a set for you, then we'll size you for your pelts. You'll be responsible for your own things, so don't expect me to help you more than once." I nodded, doing my best to file away every bit of information the other gave me, internally decently happy with fighting animals. And Ha! We'll see if I don't get the same…no, better fame! I am Jou, and I will become the worlds best Bestianii fighter ever!

Across the field, on a dais the looked over the entire school, cold blue eyes watched his newest acquisition try one various bits of armor and pelts with a small amount of pride. The new slave was much weaker than his usual lot, but the boy had done an interesting job of showing Devlin up. Perhaps once he got a bit of training, he wouldn't be quite so helpless, and it didn't hurt that he was a good looking foreigner. Perhaps he could build up enough of a following among the young girls and become popular enough to win early freedom.

Of course, he'd have to train those second rate skills to be more worthy to the ludi before Kaiba would ever let the other do a public fight.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

A/N: And it's over two weeks late…

I'm sorry, sort of. I had a birthday and a really icky cold, and a whole butt load of homework. The next chapter shouldn't take half so long, since it's more Kaiba/less Joey, and I feel that I can write him so much better. 'Til then, enjoy your holidays!


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